


The Cookie Incident

by SugarFey



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 17:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarFey/pseuds/SugarFey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha hasn’t seen Barton for months when he arrives in her room and places a brightly wrapped package on the table, along with—a pair of red and green socks?</p>
<p>For Enigma731</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cookie Incident

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enigma731](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigma731/gifts).



> This is a quick holiday-themed drabble I wrote for Enigma731. :) It's unbetaed, so any mistakes are my own.

Natasha hasn’t seen Barton for months when he arrives in her room and places a brightly wrapped package on the table, along with—a pair of red and green socks?

“It’s Christmas,” he explains when she looks at him blankly.

“Oh.” Truth is, she’s lost track of dates in the time S.H.I.E.L.D has kept her in here. “What’s that for?” she says to cover her confusion, indicating the package.

Now it’s Barton’s turn to look puzzled. “It’s a present. For Christmas. Do you do Christmas? I guess I should have asked.”

Natasha doesn’t answer, because she’s never ‘done’ Christmas, doesn’t even know what that means, really. The last time someone gave her a present was when she was nine years old. He was a handler at the Red Room and he asked her to choose between a knife and a doll. She chose the knife, and he told her she had passed the test, whatever it was.

Barton seems to take her silence as a cue to keep talking. He points to the package. “Do you want to open it?”

Barton may have decided not to kill her when they met months ago, but that does not mean she’s stupid enough to open an unscreened package. She glares at him instead, and Barton sighs. He reaches for the package and undoes the wrapping with slow, deliberate movements, emptying the contents onto the table.

Natasha glances down at the objects strewn in front of her. Star shaped cookies with patterns drawn in wonky icing. “Are you serious?”

“Hey, don’t knock them,” he says, looking somewhat offended. “My neighbour made these.”

“What do you want, Barton?” she sighs, wanting to get it over with.

“Nothing. It’s a gift.”

Natasha laughs, a little bitterly. “There are no free gifts.” _Especially not from you,_ she doesn’t say. _Not from a man I already owe too much. Don’t add to the debt._

Clint spreads his hands. “Then just a thank you and we’ll call it even.”

She doesn’t believe him for a moment, and she wonders what he actually wants in return. He’s already proven that he doesn’t want her life or her body, so what then? Her loyalty? She stares down at the colourful cookies. “Thank you,” she says flatly.

Across from her, Clint smiles, and it looks genuine, like he found whatever he was looking for. “You’re welcome.”

After he leaves she crushes the cookies and flushes them down the toilet, more as an act of defiance than anything else. She does put on the socks.


End file.
